Law Has Many Mouthpieces But Lacks A Voice

Mark A. Cohen
, ContributorI write about changes in the global legal marketplace.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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Victor Borge likened lawyers to clarinets—both have cases, mouthpieces, and need a constant supply of hot air to function. There are just over 1.3 million licensed lawyers in the U.S. according to the American Bar Association 2015 National Lawyer Population Survey. That’s a lot of hot air and mouthpieces. Paradoxically, the legal profession lacks a strong, unified voice desperately needed at this time of profound and accelerated change. That powerful legal voice must address big challenges to the rule of law including preservation of the Bill of Rights, access to justice, equal justice, global migration, human trafficking, and a growing erosion of confidence in democratic institutions.

Why Does Law Lack A Forceful Voice?

Law has many voices. Most speak for discrete segments of the legal population, focusing on issues that most affect their constituents. The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is the de facto voice of the global in-house legal community. The American Association for Justice (AAJ; formerly American Trial Lawyers Association) is a nonprofit advocacy and lobbying organization that serves as the voice of plaintiff's lawyers. These and other legal groups advance important objectives, but they tend not to focus on broader issues such as preservation of the rule of law.

The legal Academy lacks a powerful voice on big issues. Legal service providers and consumers, likewise, tend not to focus on broader issues, though the latter dictates by whom and how legal services are delivered. Public interest groups often address broader challenges but are limited by scarce resources and professional apathy. Thought leadership in the legal industry comes from individuals, not powerful institutions, and this reduces its impact.

The American Bar Association (ABA) is the putative voice of the US legal profession. It is the nation’s largest voluntary association of lawyers and law students, numbering approximately 410,000 members. Its mission statement commits to a broad focus: ‘To serve equally our members, our profession and the public by defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession.’ The ABA’s principal stated goals and objectives are to advance and promote: (1) members; (2) the profession; (3) diversity and the elimination of bias; and (4) the rule of law. Having arrogated for itself the role of ‘national representative of the legal profession,’ and pronounced broad, lofty goals, it’s fair to ask whether the ABA is achieving them. Simple answer: no.

What’s Wrong With The ABA?

Let’s start with the ABA’s mission statement to ‘serve equally our members, our profession and the public….’ (emphasis added). The ABA serves its members, because they are its lifeline and can vote with their feet if their interests are not met. What about the ABA’s service to the profession? It enunciates three principal objectives to advance the profession’s interests: legal education, professional competence/ethics, and pro bono/public service. Legal education has failed to contain cost, address massive student debt, modernize curricula, or provide graduates with new skills (IT, process, basic business knowledge) that make them 'practice ready' upon entry into a rapidly changing marketplace. The ABA has also failed to promote ‘competence’ because today’s lawyers must not only have legal expertise but also possess an understanding of how technology and process impact legal delivery.